Conventional video processing is restricted to 8-bit when video compression and de-compression (as defined by existing standards such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and H.264) are involved. Conventional digital video, whether in YUV or RGB format, represented in an 8-bit format works well with digital circuitry and memory that access data in chunks of 8 bits (i.e., bytes). However, new generation display technology, such as LCD or Plasma, use more bit-depth to provide a higher contrast range and deeper dynamic range.
Conventional techniques for video processing include (i) restricting all video to 8-bit and sacrificing video quality, (ii) storing each pixel with multiple bytes and (iii) making every memory access 10-bit or wider. Making every access 10-bit or wider wastes memory bandwidth when only 8-bit data is used for MPEG. Storing multiple bytes per pixel wastes memory space. Other disadvantages of the conventional techniques can include complex logic for extracting 8-bit data from multi-bit data, and quantization noise and artifacts on the display unit.
It would be desirable to have a system that can efficiently handle a mixture of video precision.